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She subsists on fresh salads, organic chicken and water. Her histamine allergy makes even leftovers a no-go.

She wears a mask outdoors, and has to completely cover up in sunlight.

“We never know what’s going to trigger her,” says her mother, Susan.

The auto-immune disease Crystal suffers from, mast cell activation syndrome, has no known cure. Doctors say she may have it for the rest of her life, another year, or could go into remission tomorrow — it’s impossible to know.

The 29-year-old has to avoid dust, smoke and even sunlight.(Picture: Narratively. Source: Supplied)

She takes 22 different types of medication every day.(Picture: Narratively. Source: Supplied)

“I don’t know if there’s ever a time I don’t feel anxious,” Crystal says in a video by Narratively. “Any minute something could happen. I don’t know if I ever truly relax”.

Before her diagnosis, Crystal was constantly busy, working 50 or 60 hours a week with the Opportunity Alliance Family Center in South Portland.

Then one day, she was rushed to the emergency room with hives, a swollen tongue, difficulty breathing, fainting, burning in her extremities and fatigue, the Sentry reported.

It was the first of a stream of hospital visits that has continued ever since, with Crystal often forced to call an ambulance after something as simple as drinking Gatorade.